Training wheels

WITH American boots on the ground in Ukraine, Russia could not remain quiet. When American paratroopers began a training mission in western Ukraine earlier this week, the Kremlin said it could “destabilize the situation”. Then the Russian defence ministry accused America of deploying the trainers to the conflict's front lines, and the foreign ministry declared that the peace process has hit a "dead end". American officials, in turn, claim that Russia is building up its forces along the border with Ukraine and increasing supplies to its separatist proxies, perhaps in preparation for a fresh offensive. A recent uptick in violence, especially near the prized port city of Mariupol, has already jangled Ukrainian nerves. While Russia may refrain from further action until after the European Union votes on whether to renew sanctions in July, few now expect the Minsk peace deal to endure.

For Ukraine, the training mission is more of a consolation than a prize. Kiev has long been lobbying, to no avail, for more robust Western military aid, including sophisticated weapons systems to counter the Russian-backed separatists. The American mission, dubbed Operation Fearless Guardian, will in fact do little to shift the balance of power on Ukraine's eastern front. Mr Poroshenko optimistically called the operation proof that the West is now ready to help defend Ukraine. "We are not alone," he said at the mission's opening ceremony, as torrential rain drenched the soldiers in attendance. But the trainers are not a harbinger of weapons to come, says Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

So far America has pledged only non-lethal aid, including armoured humvees and counter-mortar radar systems, and even that has been slow to arrive. "Were any of us to provide weapons to Ukraine, Russia could match that and then double that and triple that and quadruple that," Antony Blinken, an American deputy secretary of state, told German media last month. European leaders have been similarly cautious. Britain has dispatched trainers of its own, and Canada and Poland have promised similar missions. Officials in Washington have downplayed the training's importance, noting that America has trained Ukrainian troops in the past.

Nonetheless, the geopolitical context of the current mission is not lost on those on the ground. The training mission comes on the heels of America's Operation Dragoon Ride, which sent American armoured vehicles across NATO's eastern member states in response to Russia's presence in Ukraine. "We knew the issues Ukraine is going through," said Capt. Matthew Carpenter of America's 173rd Airborne Brigade. Nearly 300 American paratroopers will work with some 900 Ukrainian national guardsmen over a six-month stretch, building up from individual weapons skills to company-level command and control. The training will also familiarise Ukraine with Western military mores. "We still do everything by the Soviet model," said Lt Col Sergei Moskalenko, commander of the Cheetah Battalion, an elite Ukrainian National Guard unit. "It will be interesting to see how it's done in the USA."

When Russia's "little green men" appeared in Crimea last spring, the Ukrainian government had only 6,000 battle-ready troops. For the first time in the country's post-Soviet history, defence suddenly became a top priority. Volunteer fighters, many fresh from the revolutionary clashes, enlisted in hastily-formed battalions. While the volunteers' enthusiasm has proved invaluable at the front, their independence carries its own risks. Some worry that the troops could act as private armies for their oligarchic backers. Other battalions have been condemned by Amnesty International for human rights abuses. Concern about control over the battalions is another reason Western leaders have resisted calls to arm Ukraine.

In response, the Ukrainian government has pushed to incorporate the volunteers into official structures. Most battalions now fall under the auspices of the Ministry of Defence or the Ministry of Interior. Volunteer fighters from the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and from Right Sector, a far-right nationalist group, have left their frontline positions. Dmitry Yarosh, the controversial leader of Right Sector, was recently made an advisor to the chief of Ukraine's general staff. The role of the battalions is "taking on a more civilised character," says Serhiy Zhurets of Defence Express, a Kiev-based military consultancy.

Yet integration is an ongoing process. Nominally belonging to the national guard or the army does not mean being fully under the government's control, notes Leonid Polyakov, a former deputy minister of defence. Front-line commanders still distrust the generals in Kiev, and many soldiers still depend on volunteer networks for their supplies. Despite the Kremlin's protests over America's training mission, the balance of forces remains firmly in Russia's favour.